While it is known that androgen deprivation therapy is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, prior pooled analyses showed that patients treated with degarelix were at a lower risk of CV events and death vs those treated with LHRH agonists.

The authors found that 35% of patients had CV disease at baseline. Median age (75 vs 73 in degarelix vs leuprolide) and BMI (28 vs 30) were similar. Sixty-four percent of those on degarelix vs 52% on leuprolide had Gleason 7-10 disease. Analysis of CV risk factors showed that more degarelix patients had hypertension (35% vs 27%), diabetes (80% vs 71%), and hypercholesterolemia requiring statin use (76% vs 65%). 3.4% of patients on degarelix vs 14.5% of those on leuprolide experienced a CV event over the study period (HR=0.22, CI=0.05-1.03, p=0.054).

The authors concluded that among men with preexisting CVD in CS37, there was a lower risk for subsequent CV events in men treated with degarelix vs leuprolide. This finding supports consideration of CV risk factors when choosing a drug for androgen deprivation.

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